Resonant drumstick

ABSTRACT

A drumstick fabricated from any suitable material such as wood and having a recessed diameter holding portion whereat is disposed a relatively soft resilient material such as a gum rubber which acts to lessen the absorption into the hand of its user of the vibrational energy induced in the drumstick by its tip being struck on a surface.

United States Patent Josephine C. Stale-p 1022 W. 210th St, Torrance, Calif. 90502 23,704

Mar. 30, 1970 June 22, 1971 [72] Inventor [2|] Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [54] RESONANT DRUMSTICK S CHI, 2 Drawing Fl.

[52] US. Cl. 84/422 610d 13/00 84/41 1, 422; 273/67, 72

[56] v RelerencesClted UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,484,096 2/1924 VanHom.... 84/422 2,659,605 11/1953 Le'loumeau 273/72 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-John F. Gonzales Attorney-John Holtrichter, Jr.

RESONANT DRUMSTICK BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION The background of the invention will be set forth in two parts.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains generally to the field of musical instruments and more particularly to a novel means for preventing the dampening of vibrational energy induced in a drumstick in its normal use generally caused by the absorption of such energy by the hand of a person holding this instru' ment.

2. Description of the Prior Art The use of drumsticks to produce musical sounds is well known. These instruments are generally held in a relatively loose grip and the tip or point end thereof struck against a surface such as a drum face or a less resilient surface. In any case, vibrations are induced by this action in the drumstick itself as well as in the surface struck.

This induced (shock excited) vibrational energy traverses the length of the drumstick and helps produce a live" sound if the instruments user does not grip the stick too firmly. If the grip is too great, the vibrational energy will becoupled to the hand of the user and the energy dissipated, the hand acting as an energy sink.

To avoid this undesirable effect, persons using drumsticks generally use a relatively light grip. This technique, however, has in many cases undesirable results in that during the course of playing an instrumental piece, the drumstick slips from the users grasp and flies through the air. This is especially true where the user has become fatigued and/or his or her hands become damp from pers iration.

Over the years, certain techniques have been employed in order to try to overcome this difficulty. One such method is to provide spaced rings at each side of the hand holding portion of the drumstick. This does help lessen the probability of loss of the stick in use but does not altogether prevent such an undesirable accident and still allows much of the induced vibrational energy to be absorbed into the users hand.

In another scheme, a wrapping of cord or other absorbent material is placed 'over the holding portion of the drumstick to absorb some-of the band's moisture, to help prevent slippage and also to prevent the transmitting of the lack of heat in the stick (caused by being exposed to low temperatures) to the users hand. Whether or not this method is capable of so functioning is debatable, but the material described and adapted to so perform has the disadvantage of being highly absorptive of vibrational energy and will couple or readily transfer this energy to the hand of the user. The wrapping also increases the diameter of the drumstick where it is held and requires a period of time for adjustment to the new diameter by the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing conditions of the prior art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved and novel drumstick not subject to the disadvantages of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a drumstick which significantly decreases the coupling of induced vibrational energy of the drumstick into the hand of the user.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a resonant drumstick which has a hand holding portion adapted to prevent the slipping of the instrument from the user's hand.

According to the present invention, a drumstick having a butt end, a point end, and an intermediate length therebetween includes a reduced diameter portion disposed in the intermediate length approximately centered about the balance point of the drumstick. Also included is vibration isolated holding means disposed in and covering the reduced diameter portion for reducing vibrational energy coupling therethrough.

The reduced diameter portion may be covered with a relatively soft resilient material such as a gum rubber, which covering may have an outer diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of the remainingintermediate length.

Also, the outer surface of the covering material may include a plurality of relatively small depressions or apertures in order to provide a nonslip gripping surface.

Those features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, bothas to its organization and the manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be bestunderstood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters refer to like elements in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view'of a partially covered drumstick, according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side view, partially broken away, of a completed drumstick constructedin accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring again to the drawing and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a drumstick 11 having a butt end 13, a point end 15, and an intermediate length 17. A reduced diameter portion 19 is disposed by any conventional process in the intermediate length 17 approximately centered about the balance point of the drumstick l1. Vibration isolated holding means 21 is disposed in and covers the reduced diameter portion 19 for reducing vibrational energy coupling therethrough.

The holding means 21 is shown in FIG. 1 as a layer of material 23 partially covering the reduced diameter portion 19 and may be-of any appropriate material, such as a soft gum rubber, which has a relatively. high resiliency so that the shock excited vibrational energy induced in the drumstick l1 and propagating along the length thereof is not readily coupled to the hand of a person holding the drumstick and this dissipated. The material 23 may be cut or molded in a generally rectangular shape and attached to the portion 19 by a suitable adhesive such as, for example, epoxy, rubber cement, etc. Although the meeting edges 25 of the material 23 are shown as making a straight line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the drumstick 1l,'it should be obvious that the meeting edges may describe any other form such as a spiral, for example.

With reference to FIG. 2, the material 23 is shown having an outer surface 27 in which are disposed a plurality of relatively small depressions or holes 29 of any convenient shape such as circular, diamond, square, rectangular, and the like.

In order to obviate the necessity of the user of this musical instrument to adjust to a new gripping surface diameter, the resilient holding portion covering 23 is embedded into the drumstick 11 with its outer surface substantially equal to the outer diameter of the remaining or adjacent portions of the intermediate length 17.

Actual constructions of a drumstick as herein described have shown a very high resonance characteristic not heretofore obtainable even by the most light gripping of the holding portion of a conventional drumstick. This resonance provides a rather live stick which is highly desirable for rich musical tones. Also, it has been foundthat a drummer can produce faster, more closely spaced beats than with conventional drumsticks.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, other organizations of the embodiment may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Accordingly, it is intended that the foregoing disclosure and drawing shall be considered only as an illustration of the principles of this invention and are not to be construed in a limiting sense.

What I claim is:

said reduced diameter portion.

3. A drumstick according to claim 2, wherein said material is a gum rubber.

4. A drumstick according to claim 2, wherein the outer diameter of said material is approximately that of the remaining portion of said intermediate length.

5. A drumstick according to claim 2, wherein the outer surface of said material includes a plurality of individual apertures. 

1. A drumstick having a butt end, a point end, and an intermediate length therebetween, comprising: a reduced diameter portion disposed in said intermediate length approximately centered about the balance point of said drumstick; and vibration isolated holding means disposed in and covering said reduced diameter portion for reducing vibrational energy coupling therethrough.
 2. A drumstick according to claim 1, wherein said holding means includes relatively soft resilient material having an inner surface permanently attached to the outer surface of said reduced diameter portion.
 3. A drumstick according to claim 2, wherein said material is a gum rubber.
 4. A drumstick according to claim 2, wherein the outer diameter of said material is approximately that of the remaining portion of said intermediate length.
 5. A drumstick according to claim 2, wherein the outer surface of said material includes a plurality of individual apertures. 